NJ Voting Machine Tape Shows Phantom Obama Vote

[kster]

Freedom to Tinker

April 23rd, 2008 by Ed Felten

I’ve written before (1, 2, 3) about discrepancies in the election results from New Jersey’s February 5 presidential primary. Yesterday we received yet another set of voting machine result tapes. They show a new kind of discrepancy which we haven’t seen before — and which contradicts the story told by Sequoia (the vendor) and the NJ Secretary of State about what went wrong in the election.

The new records are from three voting machines in Pennsauken, District 6. We have the result tapes printed out by all three voting machines in that district (1, 2, 3). As usual, each result tape has a “Candidate Totals” section giving the vote count for each candidate, and a separate “Option Switch Totals” section giving the voter turnout in each party. We also have the Democratic vote totals reported by the county clerk for that district (and some others), which were apparently calculated from the memory cartridges used in the three machines.

The county clerk’s totals show 279 votes in Pennsauken District 6. The per-candidate counts are Clinton 181, Obama 94, Richardson 2, Edwards 1, Kucinich 0, Biden 1, which adds up correctly to 279. The turnout sections of the three result tapes also show a total Democratic turnout of 279 (133+126+20).

But the Candidate Totals sections of the tapes tell a different story. Adding up the three tapes, the totals are Clinton 181, Obama 95, Richardson 2, Edwards 1, Kucinich 0, Biden 1, which adds up to 280. The Candidate Totals on the tapes show an extra Obama vote that doesn’t appear anywhere else.


http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1280

[angstlessk]

1. wow...one extra vote.. call out the national guard..STOP ALL VOTING...AND EXTRA VOTE WAS FOUND

wow..just wow!!! poor Clinton an extra vote for Obama and it is all over except the super delegates!

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. computers don't screw up. People do.

A "computer screwup" is important not because one vote is of any major concern but because the the integrity of the machines are.

And yes, it's just as important an issue in Clinton precincts/states.

[Jane Austin]

3. And . . .

Do you realize how much one vote per precint would add up to?

We need an honest vote - no matter who your candidate is.

[angstlessk]

5. actually I do not have a candidate..it is THE DEMOCRAT...WHOMEVER IT IS

I admit I prefer Obama, but I like Hillary also..and will vote for whomever is the nominee...PERIOD!

on edit: is there a brain disease that begins with dyslexia?

PS I don't want to know...really!

[Jane Austin]

6. I should have said

"No matter who one's candidate is".

[angstlessk]

7. of course I agree if you can steal one you can steal 1,000 I want EVERY vote to count

and not twice or three times...the integrity of the vote is imperative for all who care about voting!

[phillysuse]

4. My husband tried to vote for Obama in South Jersey

using a Touch Screen Machine. Whenever he pushed Obama, Clinton's name came up. He then tried pushing Edwards and again Clinton's name came up. He pushed Obama and at the same time pushed the vote button. He compained to the pollworkers and called the Obama campaign which said they would get someone to go out and check the machine.

I still don't know if his vote for Obama counted or whether it was recorded for Clinton.